Electricity has long been accepted as a necessary part of our daily lives. We constantly increase our reliance on it and have grown so accustomed to it that power outages can often cause great hardships to modern civilization. However, redundancies in power production and energy systems have eliminated such outages to an almost nonexistent occurrence. Thus, it has become an increasingly reliable energy source that is harnessed in many different ways and channeled safely to our homes. Once there, it is utilized to ease burdens and to provide the necessities of life—heating, cooling, lighting, and even food preparation and preservation to name but a few. This source of energy has an amazing property in that it can be sized to fit the task at hand—powering megawatt machinery in industrial complexes down to electric toothbrushes in our homes—in a safe and convenient manner. Anyone who has attempted to manually start a gasoline engine on a lawn mower can appreciate the effortless starting of an electric start one where all of the tugging and pulling is reduced to a mere push of a button or a twist of a key.
Today's homes are filled with electrical devices such as clothes dryers, electric stoves, microwaves, coffee makers, toasters, lights, televisions, hair dryers, fans, heaters, air conditioners, computers, printers, scanners, dishwashers, washing machines, food processors, and other endless devices that harness electricity to aid our lives. All of these devices work because the electricity makes them easily controllable by just interrupting the flow of electricity. Big and small devices alike can be started and stopped with a mere flick of a switch that controls the electrical power to the device—no longer is the amount of effort required to control the device proportional to the amount of work that the device performs—a turn of a key in an ignition switch can start a lawn mower or start a bulldozer. This has helped to equalize the physical prowess required to control devices. As long as a person is capable of pushing a button, flicking a switch, or twisting a key, an electrical device can be manipulated.
Unfortunately for many people, the dexterity required for even these simple tasks is not within their capabilities. Although for many it might seem trivial to twist a key, elderly people or those with joint debilitating diseases such as arthritis or lupus, for example, might not be able to even perform that simplistic act. Others also might not have the limbs necessary to perform those types actions—amputees or those with birth defects can be without appendages that are required to perform acts such as twisting a key or reaching a wall light switch. Their lives and the devices around them have to be adjusted so that, if possible, they can regain control of those devices. This is usually costly because it requires that modifications be made to the devices and how they are controlled. Many people with disabilities are typically on limited incomes and cannot afford such expenditures even if it would ease some of their daily burdens. Electrical devices provide powerful tools for easing hardships, and those with disabilities or other encumbrances should not be without those conveniences because of the effort and high cost of modifying their controls.